When Nicole Light Densberger first toured the University of Oklahoma campus, she knew it was the one for her. She describes it as a big university with small-college appeal, and while she was planning to tour other schools on her list, after seeing OU, she no longer felt the need.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that she was coming for meteorology.
“Oklahoma's program is obviously just one of the first ones you think of when you think of meteorology programs, and you know ‘Twister’ of course didn't hurt that reputation any,” said Light Densberger.
Like many individuals who study meteorology, Light Densberger has her weather story. Her interest in weather began with her dad, who would take her outside to the porch to watch thunderstorms blow in. From an early age, lightning fascinated her. And then Hurricane Andrew hit Florida on her birthday.
“My parents let me stay up and watch the news coverage,” she said. “I remember checking out books as a kid in the elementary school library about hurricanes and thunderstorms. When I went to college, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it, if it was forecasting or research or what, but I knew that weather was what I wanted to study.”
Light Densberger pursued minors in mathematics and broadcasting and electronic media. Math, she said, was an easy choice because to get a math minor while getting a meteorology major only requires two extra classes. It was also a challenge to herself; her high school in Ohio did not have a strong math program and she wanted to prove she could surmount that setback. The broadcasting and electronic media minor was the product of a semester where she had a little extra time on her hands.
“I'm glad that I did [that] because I don't think enough people have communication skills,” Light Densberger said.
Light Densberger admitted it’s intimidating to come into the program without a strong foundation in math and physics.
“They give you lots of warning labels, like be careful, this is a lot of math and a lot of science,” Light Densberger said.
But one professor, and one quote, in particular stood out to her and encouraged her. When Dr. Kevin Kloesel told Light Densberger’s class, “You don't have to be a genius in math to do this, you just have to work really hard.” She took that to heart, and continuously pushed herself to get her degree.
While at OU, Light Densberger was a five-year member of the The Pride of Oklahoma marching band, playing tenor saxophone. There were times when she was encouraged to step back from the band for a while to focus on classes, but the promise of playing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an experience she credits as one of the best of her life, made her stick it out. Her advisor, Dr. Petra Klein, was supportive of her decision.
“She never made me feel bad for that and I was always appreciative,” Light Densberger said.
She looks back fondly on getting together with her study group at the National Weather Center (NWC) where the department moved halfway through her degree.
“We would go to the NWC on a Saturday or Sunday for hours and just bring snacks and drinks and just run our problem sets, work them out on the whiteboard and it was great having that group of people,” she said.
Light Densberger encourages new students to work hard and to volunteer when they get the chance. And, of course, to ask teachers questions when something is hard to understand.
“There are some times when they'll act surly but they notice you when you are trying really hard and I think that's the reason I survived a couple of the toughest classes, like the dynamics sequence,” she said.
After graduating, Light Densberger took a job with Weather News, right across the street from the NWC. Her time there helped her realize how much she loved the maritime industry, something that’s a bit tricky to pursue in land-locked Oklahoma. Now, she works for the California Air Resources Board. Her role is to help reduce emissions from ocean-going vessels visiting the ports of California. The initial endeavor was completed in August of last year, and went into effect this past January, so now she’s working on the implementation side of the project.
She says her meteorology degree has been helpful in understanding air quality impacts, and that her communication background has been incredibly useful, especially because she stepped into a lead role in 2019. She also received a master’s in transportation and engineering management from the California State University Maritime Academy.
“I made it sort of a personal goal to know as much as I can about this industry,” she said.
Notably, at the recent graduation for her master’s degree, Light Densberger had the honor of being the first woman to give a commencement speech for graduate students for the program.
“We had an undergrad and a graduate [speaker who] were both women, so it was pretty nice in the male-dominated maritime field to have so much female representation,” she said.
Since getting promoted to Staff Air Pollution Specialist in 2019, Light Densberger has had more freedom to explore ideas of her own.
“One of the things we're focusing on now is ‘what can we do for future measures to reduce emissions from ocean going vessels?” she said.
Ocean-going vessels can cause a lot of air quality issues, and the work she is doing is attracting attention from countries and their ports all over the world.
She thinks jobs like this are going to become more necessary for the field in the future.
“Anything that is going to involve sustainability or tackling climate change, I think these are going to be increasingly important over the next 10 years,” Light Densberger said.